A continuation of Woody's 'Nuff Said column from the CBGAZETTE website, covering CB (Past/Present) as well as HAM Radio. This one blog has multiplied and converted into other Blogs as well: SecurityDaze.blogspot.com, Everythingandthebathwater.blogspot.com, http://whatnonegativesdazed.blogspot.com/ (for the photographer in you), and http://www.partcatpartbadger.blogspot.com/, for the cat owner (tolerator) in you.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

"OH....THE PAIN..."

and,

"My, what a lovely dimple you have"

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Yes, I admit it - I had a great time buying some items on Ebay, but went overboard and now the 'ol checking account is paying the price. There were too many "RARE" auctions, and just to point out the difference (one more time):

"RARE", is NOT an Astatic Silver Eagle D-104, or a Night Eagle, etc.

"RARE" IS, a Kenwood TS-900 with matching spkr and vfo

Meanwhile, I continue to get packages at work from my January buying spree, and the postman shoots me daggers out of the corner of his eyes as he has to carry in, not just the mail, but perhaps 15 parcels sent via US Priority Mail......I smile....he glares.

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I picked up a dualband vertical for the house, and then weather nose dived in my part of Texas, but in a couple more weeks it will be Spring (in my part of Texas), and maybe I can get it on the roof inbetween lawn maint.

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As many have found out, there are some interesting videos on youtube. Here's one from a guy setting out to repair an Icom IC-703. WARNING: Seasick people beware! The camera moves around like an object in a first person shooter game.

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Also, for all of us who like to QWERP (QRP) wherever we are, the HFPACKERS Group is a good spot for information. They've recently posted some videos on youtube as well! BTW- It appears that this video was shot analog due to the video/audio sync problem, so don't worry - it's not your PC.

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Well...it finally stopped raining! After two weeks of either rain or ice, and a front yard looking more "Bog" than "Yard", someone upstairs turned on the lightswitch and maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to put that new antenna up! I've had some time to play around with my FT-817ND and it's really a nice rig. I'm almost tempted to sell my 897D and use the 817 at home with an amp and wherever else at 5 watts.

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I haven't replaced the PS in my Cobra 2000 yet, but I did finally move it off the radio desk and put a RatShack TRC-457 in it's place (the delay due to my memory, or lack of - I can't remember where I put the replacement parts!).

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"READER MAIL"

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Dave H. wrote me regarding the "Menu" posting:

Woody,

I chalk it up to an age thing. Like you, I much prefer a radio with totally individual active hardware controls, and not something which is buried under a few levels of software access. But the plain truth is that today's radios are many levels of sophistication above those classics that we all cut our teeth on in the 1970's. When someone mentions an H.F rig, I still picture the Yaesu FT-101 or Kenwood TS-820 style of rig and features. But those rigs didn't have DSP, variable bandwidth, carrier I.F. shift, audio shaping, and a litany of other features (Some are probably little more than bells and whistles and really don't help all that much). Controlling all these features would require so many knobs and switches that the radio would look too cluttered. Plus all those little pieces of hardware cost money to add. If you multiplex one control via software, you save cost as well as present a radio with a "cleaner" appearance.

The end result, unfortunately, is a radio which has to be navigated much like an old Dungeons and Dragons game, where you need a roadmap to get to each "room" to make your changes. I have no doubt that if I was still a 20-something, I'd probably be able to store all that information in my memory and not need the manual, and operation would not be all that bad. But age brings decline in short term memory, and that's what becomes frustrating, especially for those "seldom used" features.

Face it, we're getting old! Imagine the tales we'll tell our grandchildren: "When I was a young ham, we had radios that had glowing glass tubes in it, and we didn't have an LCD display panel. We also had to actually TUNE them for the bands we used. And we used ANALOG modes!"

Yep that day is coming........ ;-)

Dave

Tnx Dave (as always) for writing and sharing your thoughts! And now I must go take my daily dose of Ensure.....

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Wes dropped me a line from Canada:

Hello Brian,I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed the videos to the hamfest on your site. It was really interesting, gets the excitement going when I see all that vintage gear on the tables spread out for the taking...the old DAK's, President export models, etc.You folks are really lucky down there to have that priviledge as up here hamfests on my area are almost non-existent. Over in BC and Ontario a few happen, but infrequently. CB in Canada took a tumble in the mid 80's, gained momentum around 1989 thru 1999 and then took a bad fade as the pioneers of the circuit died off and took their folowing with, and stuff got packed away.In the past 6 years it has gotten even worse. In our area the truckers 10 miles from here are the only source of listening on the radio. We used to have over 50 operators within a 40 mile radius, now there's maybe a half dozen left that come on once in a while. We have a local radio club called the Pow City Communicats Radio Club that only show up for 10 minutes on Tuesdays at 10PM for a club NET CALL, that used to have over 65 members 10 years ago. Now they have about 7 responses, that's it. The rest of the week you never hear them on the radio.BTW...I'm a lousy typist so excuse the typos please.

Back to the videos, and your CB Gazette website. I really enjoy it. It is a real blast from the past that gives a good feeling that there are others out there with a passion for this stuff as I've had since 1976. We had a radio shop here in our family, DX Comminucations, Inc and had a website that ran for the last 5 years we had the shop, since 1987. We sold all the new & used gear including older 23's from the 70's I'd find NOS....and also the current Uniden, Cobra, Ranger, Export rigs...same as Copper's Electronics did basically and many others. I enjoyed it immensely, had a full time tech working for me who was real good. In 2001 he passed away of a heart attack and since then I decided to go back to trucking and have been since.

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I had about 7 radios back then in my collection, the bug hit once again in 2004 and I started buying vintage rigs...mostly NIB/NOS gear and thought I'd stop at about 35 rigs. Today at just over 100, I am still buying the occasional piece and have a nice room half filled with stuff. But I enjoy this, as you obviously do too. I think you bought some CB Mag's from me a while back, I enjoy those too...mostly the 70's stuff more than 60's.I have a few radios left to seek out and then I must stop. I have many pictures of my radios, if you are ever interested in some nice shots of maybe some rigs that you don't yet have on your site, I'd gladly email you some pics of a few. I have a mint Midland 78-999 base in the box, brand new. Plus a NIB Cobra 148FGTL-DX+ export rig, NIB SBE Console II with metal cabinets...actually many of the major brands NIB. I still need to find a minty Stoner Pro-40 SSB, ARF-2001, a NIB DAK Mark X, SBE Landcommand LCB-8, and a few others.

I have a few photos of some of the radio room I have of my collection. I found an interesting mic about 2 years ago that once I did research on I found out it was pretty rare. It's called a Liberty 200, by Wright Electronics...made by Turner. Brand new and never wired....a beautiful gold colored Turner +2. That's one of my fav's.

I found it interesting when you mentioned in the one video of a guy restoring a 1977 Bandit Trans Am. Well, I just finished redoing one a couple years ago...same car. I didn't mount a CB in it because I didn't want to start drilling holes, etc in an all-original car. But many times I wish I had a 2nd same car I COULD install it and put the antenna on the roof and make it a replica. :-)

My boys and I really enjoy it, like I said before I love all the "past stuff."You know it seems as if the 60's and 70's is an era that when we were part of it, we never realized what a piece of history we were living in. It was a really special time that I don't think can be beaten, ever. Nice cars, CBing was so popular I remember at 7PM we couldn't find a vacant channel on my 23 channel TRC-30A to talk on! You always had someone cross-channeling you and wiping you out. We spend that extra $200 to increase antenna height another 20' and buy a bigger antenna so we could talk further than the "other guy".

It's too bad that things change so fast, especially since the year 2000 hit. It seemed before the new millenium at least here in Canada, things were at a much slower "change of pace" so to speak. in 1997 I though CB would come back and by 2004 we'd have a boom, it was just that good here. Cell phones, computers, video games, etc have taken over, along with other things.

But I guess I'm an old stubborn one who refuses to change, and is grabbing all those neat things I can find that I find "retro" and making something that makes me happy....a mini CB MUSEUM. About 80-100 radios, and 50+ mics.I often travel to Alberta and B.C. buying out inventory from shops that closed doors and bring home carloads of NOS stuff that I have fun finding.

It's only drawback is that mint Tram D201A's are not $20 each. Nor minty Browning Mark II's $15.Anyway...I just thought I'd email you and say how much I enjoy clicking thru your site. I hope you keep it up & running for a long time, it really is a pleasure. I know I'm on it at least 20 times monthly in the past 4 years...and many many times before that.

Have a great New Year and if you'd like any pics for to add, I can send some decent ones for you to examine and see if it benefits from them, or not. Take Care, Wes Simpson in Canada or, on eBay "collectiblez_4-u"

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Thanks for writing in Wes, and yes, I've had the pleasure of purchasing some items from you recently. Hopefully I'll get going with a few new videos this year, and Thanks for all the great photo's you've sent (which will be popping up here and there in other blog posts! )

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PRODUCT REVIEW

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"The Finger Dimple"

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Have you ever gone from a rig with an indentation in the tuning knob to one without it?

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Well I just did. I added a Kenwood TS-850 to the shack and I'm so used to moving the VFO knob via one finger (as I do with my 897D) that it took me a minute to realize - "Hey, something's missing on this knob".

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"...Once again, one finger tuning was within my mortal power"

Well here comes the "Finger Dimple" to the rescue. I purchased one of these (actually you get two) along with a "kranker knob" for my FT-817nd (but that's another review), and they arrived very quickly via U.S. Postal "Priority". The tiny dimple came in a small (very small) zip bag and I'll have to admit that I was a bit dubious about it (peel and stick), but stick it I did, and once again one finger tuning was within my mortal power!

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I know many of you are wondering "How long will it stay on the knob", as well as myself, so I promise to give you an update as future posts on the Blog are written, but I'll have to admit, at least for this reviewer, this was $6 well spent!

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And so we come to the end of yet another exciting Issue, hopefully you drank lots of Coffee!!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

"TECHNICAL EYES"

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I have this problem, maybe you have it as well: I'm watching a movie or a TV show, and if someone is using a radio for communications, I'll freeze-frame it if I can to ID the radio. Here's a couple examples:

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Last night I was up all night and while flipping through the Direct TV menu I came across an old one that I hadn't seen in years called "Rollercoaster". Timothy Bottoms plays a pyscho bomber who likes to blow up rollercoasters. George Segal and Richard Widmark are the good guys trying to hunt him down.

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Towards the end of the movie, as they are hunting for a bomb on a rollercoaster, Widmark and Segal are in an office communicating with the bomb squad (who are using typical police sized walkie-talkies) and it took a couple scenes but I could see that Widmark was talking on a Courier 23. The movie was made in 1977, but the Courier looked almost new, maybe it was a leftover prop from a much older movie...(picture of courier 23 is from Ztins ebay auction -click HERE.)

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The night before, I was having a "Bond-A-Thon", watching the James Bond sets No.1 and 3. The last movie up was "Dr. NO". I've seen that movie more times than I can remember, but THIS time, in the very beginning when an agent and his secretary are killed (she is killed while warming up the shortwave set), my eyes went right to the radio! I paused the DVD and could see the name "K.W. Vanguard". I kept the DVD on pause, went into the other room, got on the computer and googled the name. On one of the first links I tried I found myself looking at the rig from Dr. NO. Here it is! Once satisfied, I was able to return to the comfort of the couch and continue watching movie...

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"FROM THE SHIPPING DEPT."

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Did you notice a spike in shipping costs during the Christmas/New Year Holidays this year on EBAY? There were so many items I would have bid on if shipping was accurate. Example: Desk microphone, shipping charge $29 (smaller than a D104) from one US location to another US location. Compare this to an FT-101b I bought and paid $27 to ship from New York to Texas! I know the FT-101 was accurate because the seller took it to UPS after packing it up to get the shipping cost to my Zip. Example 2: Dualband HT, with original accessories in original box (modern small dualbander). The Buy-it-now price was reasonable but $34 to ship??

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These are but two examples out of many I encountered. Some sellers admitted their shipping calculator was incorrect after I emailed them, and was given a much lower (and accurate price). Other people weren't as nice, and didn't appreciate me pointing out the fact they were making money sometimes $20-$30 on shipping. Of course, whenever you buy something on EBAY, it is a contract and it's your fault if you didn't check the shipping charge. As far as I know, it's not a crime to charge so much extra. Did anyone else run into this? Drop me a line...

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"FROM THE I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT PRICE DEPT"

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First of all, the price the seller wants is high, but secondly, it's hard to fathom paying $600 for it originally. Click HERE to see what I'm talking about.

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And now my friends, you've come to the end of another posting! Next Post - Reader Mail!!

Sunday, January 07, 2007

"WAITER, MAY I HAVE A MENU?"

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As manufacturers strive to put more features in smaller footprint rigs menu's grow in length and depth. For some settings this is fine, because they might only have to be set once or twice during the time you own the rig.

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Other settings however are ones that we (operators) like to "fiddle" with more frequently. I may be getting old (correction - I get older each year) but some menu's are so cryptic it requires the manual to figure out how to do what you want to do, and if you're like me, the manual is never easy to find when you need it.

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Of course, I own several rigs that are menu driven, and yes, I cringe when it becomes apparent that I have to go into the menu system. It's for that exact reason I bought a Kenwood TS-850! The 850 is a "Knob-O-Rama" rig and that's the way I like it - if I want to adjust something, it's right there in front of me: Turn a knob or push a button, based on one of the first rules I was taught about troubleshooting computers, KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid).

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So am I in the minority? Let me know how YOU feel about it - send me an e-mail!!

Friday, January 05, 2007

REVIEW: 2007-1

"ARRL QST ON CD-ROM"

-For my first review of the new year, I thought I'd write one about a product that I've always wanted to buy, but hadn't - until a few weeks ago. The product I'm talking about, of course, is the ARRL's "QST's on CD-ROM" .-For my own personal preferences, I like reading the old fashioned way, however, magazines get torn, folded, lost, and smelly over a period of decades, and I thought it would be cool to be able to have, at my fingertips, a way to pull them up on screen and even search for what I was looking for. My mind was made up though as I noticed that either cheap ink, cheap paper, or both, caused text to be easily smeared (once smeared - always smeared) - so I ordered one set (1995-1999).-The viewing program installed very quickly and before you could say "QST" I was looking at the cover of January 1995. I was a tad dismayed to find the cover in Black & White, so I poked through the settings to see how to correct it and discovered that it was not possible because it was B&W only. I guess, for most of the years, this would be perfectly normal, but it seemed unsatisfactory for the later years and the (sometimes) glorious color covers. But I got over it.What I couldn't get over was the way the grey scale switch didn't seem to give any perceivable difference in my viewing pleasure (the shades seemed "mushed" together), and this could be because I was viewing it on an LCD monitor vs. a CRT monitor. A few years ago it wouldn't be a big deal, but today LCD screens are very popular. But this is only one Ham's opinion.-There's not alot to say about the viewer: You can Zoom in or out, and move from page to page, search, or print. I printed out a few pages: some text, some advertisements ("The NEW Icom IC-736") and some mixed pages of text and photos, and it worked just fine.-Wrap-up:For someone who doesn't have enough space to keep decades of QST's around, or just to have something preserved digitally, this is rather nice to have, granted expensive, if you wanted every issue. You get 4 years on CD-ROM for $39.95 plus shipping. I don't know if the ARRL ever runs these on sale, but if they do, it makes an even better purchase and perhaps, future issues will be scanned in color! -RATING:3-out-of-5 Stars.-

Thursday, January 04, 2007

SO WHAT DID SANTA BRING YOU??

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It's finally over (this years Holiday Marketing, huge crowds at the Mall, Best Buy, the Post Office, and clogged freeway traffic). Due to a shortfall of $$$ and a Bonus that came the Friday before Christmas, I didn't get to exercise my Internet shopping prowness as much as last year, but it is indeed, my favorite way to beat the lines!

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I don't usually jump all over the web to buy items - I can usually find them in 1 or 2 websites I shop at, and since I've started this type of Holiday spending, I haven't come down with quite as many illnesses - thanks to keeping out of germs way.

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Back to Santa, and your gifts...

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I gave myself 2 luxury items this year, one of them was right in line with my hobby interests, the other was...well, "out of the blue":

Kenwood TS-850 (my first venture into Kenwood HF as a daily user rig). CW-Dave(the guy who should be in the Guinness book of world records for most rigs owned and operated) is a BIG Kenwood fan. As any old time reader knows, I'm more of a Yaesu/Icom kinda guy, but I'm going to give it a whirl.

Apple IPOD. I can't explain it, but I own it.

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I got the black one (it looks cool but shows every fingerprint and smudge) because that's all the store had, and found that I was amazed at how small the IPOD is, considering it has a 30GB HD in it! The color screen is small, but bright and sharp and I don't like the earbuds that come with it. I've listened to ONE song so far, but have watched 2 episodes of "The Land of Giants" TV show from the sixties. I can see that this little player will come in handy whenever I'm expecting a long wait (doctors office).

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SURPRISES

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And then there is always the unexpected!! I picked up 2 Stoner items - One book "The New CB Sideband Book" (I've never seen this one before. Don wrote one in 1958 called "The New Sideband Book", which I have a copy of, but this one was written in 1977 and deals strictly with CB and has a few plugs for his "NEW" Stoner Pro40).

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The second item was a Tube rig, the "Stoner SSB-100", which was probably a marine HF SSB transceiver (haven't received it yet, so I'm not sure).

QTH.COM SWAP/SELL

"IT's Been A Bad Day"

About Me

31 years in the computer repair/customer support business. During the 90's I self-published a monthly magazine called the "CB GAZETTE", creating my first website - www.cbgazette.com in 1994 (open 24x7 for 20 years now). Due to time conflicting between the Gazette and my Computer day job I was forced to abandon the magazine in 1998.

Since then I've been a variety of things: Helpdesk support, Network Administrator, Residential computer support and author of five Blogs!